The Moses Bay Hotel may not exude the opulence of a Soneva Gili, or even offer a bed to compare favourably with your local Premier Inn, yet 16 Bray Lakers took off again in June for the Club’s third visit to El Tur – must be something to do with a congestion free flat water lagoon, pretty reliable thermals and the hospitality of our ex-Bray friends Danielle and Phil.
Conditions were good, and stronger than last year. Everybody had the opportunity to get out everyday but one. A light wind day bought about a walk and a swim to the Point for some, a trip out to snorkel the wreck for Jeremy, a read, a siesta or a spot of backgammon for others. That being said we still took two teams to the water in pairs in the afternoon to amuse ourselves on random craft for a ‘Gary inspired’ relay race.
On sailable days we could go out and simply enjoy, or choose to improve our skills with a clinic. Ian B seemed to quickly get back to where he left off last year, despite suffering a lack of time on the water between trips. Phil’s gyber’s finished the week with more flair than they began, and Danielle’s “beasting” had me out of the water more often on my water starts and planing faster, albeit that back strap is still a bit of a holy grail! Ali was all smiles having clocked a new personal best on the GPS. The “Death by Water Start” award this year surely has to go to Neil and his dogged determination which was rewarded on several occasions by the close of the trip. Such determination only matched by Les for his time served on the water, and what trip wouldn’t be complete without a few blisters, bruises and Gavin’s completely shredded hands. Where would the sales of superglue be without him I wonder.
Good sailing conditions generally led to laid back evenings, mainly involving the Beach Bar and the Oceansource Centre and backgammon games for some. Danielle and Lindsey did us proud hosting a BBQ night and Phil took on the fire pit and a visiting drunken Russian, as only a man could.
For my part, it was quiz night. Unlike last years Quiz Master Kathy, I did not bound into task, but we did get everybody together and give it a go. As far as observations go, anybody who thinks that windsurfers are laid back types probably hasn’t hosted a quiz night! Questions may have been a little more taxing than I had envisaged, or maybe not articulated as well as they could have been in places, but with final veto, a lack of little blue plastic pens for ammunition or suitable will and internet connection to challenge me I eventually emerged with a respectable 44 out of 70 from my winning team of Carl, Mark & Neil. Let’s just not talk Beverages or pi (π) anytime soon eh…..
Upon receipt of our itineraries, most groaned at a late departure with an awfully unsociable arrival time back in to Gatwick, but at it would transpire Saturday conditions were great. We got in a full days sailing before heading back to Sharm with a number of people getting in their best sail of the week. We left two of our party behind beer in hand to wave us off and enjoy a second week. Claire was on her verge of cracking her carve gybe so had a mission for week two, and Darren was looking to sort that loop out over in the waves at Habibi. Maybe they’ll grace us with Blog MKII and let us know how they got on…
Contributed by: Candice Betts
